Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-01

made out of what appears" With this
faith we confront the materialist who
believes that in matter is the prom
ise and potency of all forms of be
ngs. We are not daunted by the
pretentious name of philosophy which ne
gives to his creed. Materialsm is a faith.
nothing mOre-a religious faith, too, ONLY
the materialist's religion is of the lowest
type, lower than the crudest animism. The
difficulties which belong to materialsm
have been long perceived and often very
forcibly urged. The greatest of them,
after ALL is the tremendous demand it
makes upon our faith. But the strength
OF the argument against materalism does
not account for the energy with which
most minds reject this theory, or for the
aversion with which most men regard
1t. Nor on the other hand, is the force of
the theistic argument which has made us
theists, the concusiveness of the evidence
of creation which has shut us up to this
explanation of the cosmos in which we
| find ourselves. Our conviction is immeas.
urably stronger than would result from "A
mere critical weighing of the proofs
Another venture OF faith is upon the
moral order of the world. Is the universe
not merely in the physical but in the moral
sense cosmos Does the moral conduct
of the individual fit into the order of things
so that right and wrong produce results !
in accordance with their character? Or, |
to put the question in a religious form, is |
the world governed under moral laws by
righteous God who requites good with |
good, evil with evil The question is one |
OF the highest practical consequence, to !
the individual and to society. If we had |
to answer it on the ground of observation
and experience alone, we should have to
admit that there are a great many things
in the world which initiate strongly
against the existence of such an order
II any man chooses to argue that the world
we live in is moral chaos, in which evil
follows good and good evil as often as the
opposite, he will discover plenty of plaus-
ible evidence lying all around, and we
should find it hard to confute him. We
believe that the moral conduct of the in
divldual fits into the order of things, that
right and wrong produce results accordant
to their character, and we govern our lives
by the belief But the working force of
the conviction is, it must be acknowledged,
out OF all proportion to the evidence be-
fore US.
Another venture we make is upon the
immortality of the soul and the com
pleteness of its destiny. AS far as we can
see death ends all. Yet we are so far
from allowing this that we rather make
our poets word our own:
There is no death what seems so is transition.
This life of mortal breath
Is but the suburb of the life Elysian
Whose portal we call death.
That death does not end all is one
of the most persistent convictions
of our race, But if we ask what
proof there is of immortality, we can only
say, strictly speaking, none. The com
moner arguments crafty our desire to
give reason for the hope that is in u.s.
They are not the reason OF the hope. An
other of these ventures of faith" is the
distinctively Christian ones,-that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
himself, not reckoning unto them their
trespasses" In this brief but compre-
hensive creed the Christian world is at
one Grounded upon this faith our Chris
tian religion has the following character
istics, which distinguished it from all 9th
ers l. Our conception on the character of
God culminates in the thought of the
Saviour. =, The highest good which re
ligion offers is reconciliation with God
atonement. B. The one hndrance to this
reconciliation is mans sin 4. The remis-
sion of sins and the reconciliation of God
and man is effected by God in and through
Christ. by these convictions we govern
our lives. We are rs firmly convinced of
them as of the best attested facts of his
tory or science. 1t is a confidence born of
faith. We should always emphasize the
fact that though the evidences of Chris
tianity be never so strong, our faith goes
far beyond the evidence.
In religion as in science, then. we are :
at every turn to act beyond the
limits of certainty. But why do we do
this? Some scientists have declared it to
NC a DltdCu VI lHOldIS W DtlitNt even lUe
truth without proof To this it might be I
sufficient to reply al hOmiH5m that if
this is the case the scientists are in no
position to play the Pharisee. They are
As deep in this depth of immortality as
the most orthodox theologan But we
are not disposed merely to parry their {
charge. The question is of moment. BY
what right do we postulate the uniformity :
Of nature? We must, or science is inn
possible. That is, we justify ourselves in {
assuming the postulate because it is necee- t
sary to Justify one of the strongest and I
most persistent of our intellectual i'm
pulses. And to crafty this impulse we 8
are ready to make any other assumption {
that may be necessary. And why do we i
believe in the existence of God, in the i
moral order of the universe, in the i'm c
of the soul, in the reconciliation /
in Christ; Is it not to satisfy the deepest
and most imperious needs of the soul If ,
we have the right to make the boldest I
ventures of faith that we may have a {
science, who shall question our right to ,
make no greater ones that we may have &
religlon t
But the justification from necessity is
not, after all, wholly satisfactory. What '
guarantee have we that our most imperi- '
GUS impulses guide us right-that what q
they constrain us to think corresponds to 8
the reality of things Further the only 7
possible verification of these postulates c
which science is compelled TO beg at the
outset is that the results satisfy our I'M S
Outstanding. The ventures of faith in re- S
igion verify themselves in the same way !; |
they satisfy our soul. Faith gives ideals S
and motives of conduct which experience
proves to be so accordant with the nature c
Of things of which we are a part, as to con- i
luce to the well-beng of ourselves and d
others.
In building upon foundation of faith /
religion is not singular the fundamental
of science are not less Stup- a
endous ventures of faith the justification I
If these ventures and their verilication is '
Of the same kind in both cases. Aud it is e
TO be added that just as all men of neces- a
5ity accept fundamental postulates of '
science and think and act by them, 1
though they may never have clearly C
them, SO men everywhere i
10 instinctively make the Characteristic t
ventures of religious faith the univer- il
salty of religion evinces this 1t is as C
for a man to reject the one As a
he other. ;
WHY then IL may he asked are not all